Longhorn bashed by MacDailyNews

"After months of keeping its prized cow in the barn, Microsoft is beginning to let Longhorn out of the corral for public viewing," Ina Fried reports for ZDNet India. "Beginning with brief demonstrations to reporters this week, the software maker is starting to shed light on just what the next version of Windows will offer when it hits the market next year. High on the list of features are security enhancements, improved desktop searching and organizing, and better methods for laptops to roam from one network to another. 'This is going to be a big deal,' Jim Allchin, Microsoft group vice president, said."

MacDailyNews Take: Oh yeah, a "big deal," unless you bought a Mac five years ago.

"In a brief demonstration, Allchin showed off several key features that make the new OS stand out from prior versions. A 'quick search pane,' for example, allows users to type queries and instantly see matching files," Fried reports. "In both look and form, the search mechanism is similar to the Spotlight feature in Apple Computer's Mac OS X Tiger, which goes on sale later this month. Search results can be saved as virtual folders that are automatically updated to include all items that fit a particular query... Documents, pictures, music and even applications can also be given a rating or keywords to add further criteria for searching. But while the OS bears plenty of similarities to Tiger, Allchin stressed that Microsoft has broken new ground in Longhorn. For example, document icons are no longer a hint of the type of file, but rather a small picture of the file itself."